Background

Ilya Repin was born on August 5, 1844 in Chuguyev, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Chuguyev, Kharkivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine) to a poor family. His parents were Natalya Titovna Repina and Yefim Vasilyevich Repin.

Education

Initially, Ilya studied at the school, where his mother worked as a teacher. In 1854, he entered a military Cantonist school. Two years later, a young painter began to take classes from Ivan Bunakov, who was a local icon painter. In 1864, Repin enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Arts, graduating in 1871. The same year, he won an academy scholarship, that enabled him to visit France and Italy, and, when he returned to Russia, he devoted himself to history painting.

Career

In 1870, Repin went to the Volga River, and there he made the sketches for his future masterpiece "Barge Haulers on the Volga". In 1873, Ilya took part in the World Exhibition in Vienna, where his "Barge Haulers on the Volga" was shown. Between 1874-1876, the painter showed his works at the Salon in Paris and at the Itinerants' Society in Saint Petersburg. During his time in Paris, Repin came into contact with Impressionism and was familiar with the new direction, that European art was taking. He appreciated the technique of the impressionists, but felt, that it did not address the issues of social justice and moral purpose in art, that were important to him.

In 1877, he settled down in Moscow together with his family. There, Ilya produced a wide variety of works, including portraits of Arkhip Kuindzhi and Ivan Shishkin. The following year, he became friends with Leo Tolstoy and Vasily Surikov. During that time, Repin also attended the art circle of Savva Mamontov, where he got acquainted with many leading painters of that time, including Vasily Polenov, Valentin Serov and Mikhail Vrubel.

In 1880, Repin moved to Zaporozhye, Ukraine, in order to gather some material for his work, entitled "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks". Some time later, in 1887, he traveled to Austria, Italy and Germany. During that time, he also produced the portrait of Leo Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana and collaborated with Ivan Aivazovsky on the creation of the painting, entitled "Alexander Pushkin on the Shore of the Black Sea".

Later, in 1890, Repin was commissioned to create a new statute for the Imperial Academy of Arts. The following year, he stopped his collaboration with the Itinerants' Society in protest against a new statute, that restricted the rights of young artists. In 1892, Repin held his solo exhibition at the History Museum in Moscow. In 1893, he published the collection of essays "Letters on Art".

The next year, in 1894, Repin was appointed a teacher at the Higher Art School, that was attached to the Imperial Academy of Arts. He held this post till 1907. Also, in 1897, Ilya returned to the Itinerants' Society. Throughout this period, he continued to exhibit, including shows in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Between 1898-1899, Repin held the post of a director of the Imperial Academy of Arts.

In 1900, Repin met and fell in love with Natalia Nordman. He moved into her home "Penates" in Kuokkala, Finland. There, they had weekly gatherings with the Russian creative elite, whom Repin documented in portraits.

Also, in 1900, together with Natalia Nordman, Repin traveled to Paris, where he acted as a painting judge at the World Exhibition. In 1911, they visited Italy, where Repin's work "17 October 1905" was exhibited. In 1916, the painter started to create his book of reminiscences, entitled "Far and Near".

Despite the fact, that Repin supported Russian Revolution of 1917, he did not want to go back to Russia and continued to live and work in Natalia Nordman's home in Finland until his death in 1930.

Achievements

• Ilya Repin gained prominence as one of the most famous Russian realist painters of the 19th century. He played a major role in bringing Russian art into the mainstream of European culture. Repin's most renowned works include "Barge Haulers on the Volga" (1873), "Religious Procession in Kursk Province" (1883) and "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks" (1880–1891).
  
  In 1876, Repin was awarded the title of academician. Also, he received several awards, including Gold medal in 1869 and 1872, and the National Order of the Legion of Honour in 1901.
  
  Paintings by Repin hang in all the best art museums of Russia, notably the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Ballet scene

  • Seller of student works at the Academy of Arts

  • Portrait of the Artist Nikolay Gay

  • Alley in the park Kachanovka

  • Zaporizhian colonel

  • Portrait of the Artist A. P. Bogolubov

  • Portrait of sculptor Mark Matveevich Antokolski

  • Tatyana Repina, the Artist's Mother

  • The road from Montmartre in Paris

  • Hunchback

  • Religious Procession

  • Portrait of Vera Repina

  • Raising of Jairus Daughter

  • Summer day in Abramtsevo

  • Portrait of the Poet Afanasy Fet

  • Portrait of the Actress Pelagey Strepetova

  • Portrait of A. Bocharova, artist's aunt

  • Portrait of the Artist Viktor Vasnetsov

  • Portrait of the Art Critic Vladimir Stasov

  • Ukranian Girl by a Fence

  • Portrait of M.P. Shevtsova, wife of A. Shevtsov

  • Self portrait

  • Head of a Man

  • Preparation for the Examination

  • The Village of Mokhnachi

  • Portrait of Yurkevich

  • Ecce homo

  • Ukrainian peasant

  • The piano. Portrait of S.V. Tarnovskaya

  • Burlak

  • Portrait of Yanitskaya

  • Portrait of Vera Repina, the Artist's Wife

  • In the hut

  • Haulers cross wade

  • Burlak

  • Portrait of the Composer Modest Musorgsky

  • Nun

  • Portrait of the pianist, conductor and composer Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein

  • Portrait of Doctor Constantine Franzevich Yanitsky

  • Hunchback 1

  • Negress

  • Raising of Jairus Daughter

  • Sitting model

  • Portrait of a kalmyk

  • Barge Haulers by Campfire

  • Portrait of E.G. Mamontova

  • The Merchant Kalashnikov

  • A beggar with a bag

  • Poprishchin

  • Calvary (Crucifixion)

  • Two woman

  • Portrait of Tatiana Rechinskay

  • Fishing nets. Shiryaevo.

  • Portrait of Ivan Stepanovich Panov

  • Portrait of S. Mamontov

  • View of the village Varvarino

  • Horse for the stones collecting in the Vela

  • Portrait of the military

  • Andriy Kot

  • Portrait of railroad tycoon and patron of the arts Savva Ivanovich Mamontov

  • Portrait of Professor Ivanov

  • Barge Haulers on the Volga

  • Portrait of the Artist Ivan Kramskoy

  • Railway guard. Hotkovo.

  • River Bank

  • Portrait of T. A. Mamontova

  • Portrait of A.E. Arkhipov

  • Pilgrim

  • The Village of Mokhnachi near Chuguyev

  • Putting a Propagandist Under Arrest

  • Portrait of A.S. Matveev

  • Peasant Girl

  • Putting a Propagandist Under Arrest

  • Portrait of the Surgeon Nikolay Pirogov

  • Rest. Portrait of Vera Repina, the Artist's Wife

  • Portrait of a bearded peasant

  • Death of Fedor Chizhov

  • Man and woman at the table. The man pulls on the glove

  • Bridge in Abramtsevo

  • Portrait of a military engineer, Captain A. Shevtsov, brother of the artist's wife

  • A bouquet of flowers

  • Scene from balet (study)

  • Barge Haulers at the Fire

  • Portrait of Folk Story-teller V.P. Schegolenkov

  • Religious procession in an oak forest. Appearance of the icon

  • Portrait of E.G. Mamontova reading

  • Portrait of V. Repin, musician, brother of the artist

  • Sadko

  • Portrait of the artist R. S. Levitsky

  • Academic keeper Efimov

  • Barge Haulers Pulling on the Strap

  • Portrait of A.I. Shevtsov

  • Raising of Jairus Daughter

  • Portrait of the Artist Arkhip Kuindzhi

  • Putting a Propagandist Under Arrest

  • Portrait of S.F. Mamontova

  • Wanderer

  • Returning from the war

  • Girl with Flowers. Daughter of the Artist.

  • Death of Fedor Chizhov

  • Woman's Head (V.A. Repina lying in bed)

  • In Repins studio. Drawing evening.

  • A Peasant with an Evil Eye

  • Head of peasant (study)

  • Shiryaev gully on the Volga

  • Boots of the prince

  • Portrait of of Julia Bogdanovna Repman, born Krause, wife of Dr. A.H. Repman

  • Portrait of the historian and archaeologist Ivan Egorovich Zabelin

  • Job and His Friends

  • V.A. Repina

  • Portrait of A.P. Bogolyubov

  • Hunchback

  • Portrait of V. E. Repin, the Artist's brother

  • Portrait of Yuriy Repin, the Artist's son

  • Reading girl

  • Watch

  • Portrait of T.P. Chaplygin, a cousin of Ilya Repin

  • Portrait of Vasily Kirillovich Syutayev

  • Reading Aloud

  • Tsarevna Sophia Alexeevna in the Novodevitchy Convent

  • Burlak

  • Portrait of poet and slavophile Ivan Sergeyevich Aksakov

  • Portrait of the Artist Vasily Polenov

  • D.V. Karakozov

  • Portrait of Savva Mamontov

  • Portrait of the architect Philip Dmitrievich Hloboschin

  • Portrait of painter Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. Study for the picture Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom.

  • Portrait of a Woman (E.D. Botkina)

  • Jew praying

  • Portrait of a Woman

  • In the township board

  • A Shy Peasant

  • Diogenes and the boy

  • Slavic composers

  • Portrait of the Surgeon Nikolay Pirogov

  • Exit of Patriarch Hermogenes

  • N. Wentzell

  • Hunchback (study)

  • Under escort. On the muddy road

  • Woman playing with Umbrella

  • To his homeland. The hero of the last war

  • Peasant Yard

  • Portrait of T.S. Repina, mother of the artist

  • Mallow

  • Portrait of the Military Engineer Andrey Delvig

  • Portrait of the Artist Ivan P. Pohitonov

  • Send off of recruit

  • Portrait of a Boy

  • Portrait of E.L. Prahova and painter R.S. Levitsky

  • On a Turf Bench

  • Ukrainian peasant house

  • Portrait of Efim Repin, the Artist's Father

  • Barge Haulers on the Volga

  • Hat man

  • Two Ukrainian peasants

  • Woman (study)

  • A young man in military uniform

  • Portrait of an old woman

  • Barge Haulers on the Volga

  • Cavalcade in Abramtzevo

  • Portrait of Polixena Stasova

  • Portrait of the Author Alexey Pisemsky

  • Admiralty

  • Youth portrait of sculptor Ilya Yakovlevich Ginzburg

  • Warrior XVII century

  • Street in Tiflis

  • Portrait of Maria Artsybasheva

  • A Newspaper Seller in Paris

  • Portrait of E. Mamontova

  • Leisure

  • Seamstress

  • Italian models

  • Portrait of a young wife, sitting on the couch

  • Female figure in a landscape

  • Study of an Old-Man

  • Portrait of S.A. Repina

  • Portrait of writer Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev

  • Portrait of Nadya Repina

  • Portrait of Vera Shevtsova

  • Cry of prophet Jeremiah on the Ruins of Jerusalem (on a Bible subject)

  • Church and bell tower in Chuguyev

  • A Fisher Girl

  • Apples and Leaves

  • Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom

  • Landscape of the Volga with boats

  • Evening party

  • Portrait of P.P. Chistyakov

  • Ada girl

  • Landscape with boat

  • Walk with lanterns

  • Portrait of Pavel Chistyakov

  • On the boundary path. V.A. Repina with children going on the boundary path

  • Raising of Jairus Daughter

  • Portrait of a Boy

  • Ukranian Girl

  • Portrait of Chuguev resident S.L. Lyubitskaya

  • Head of hunchback

Membership

Repin was a member of Itinerants' Society.

• honorary member

  Union of the Antiquities and Art , Ukraine

• honorary member

  Literature and Art Union

Connections

Ilya Repin married Vera Shevtsova in 1872. Their marriage produced four children — Vera, Nadhezhda, Yury and Tatyana. In 1882, the couple divorced, although they remained on friendly terms.

In 1900, Repin met Natalia Nordman, an author, whom he described as the "love of his life". They lived together until Natalia's death in 1914.

Father:

Yefim Vasilyevich Repin

Mother:

Natalya Titovna Repina

child:

Vera Repina

child:

Nadhezhda Repina

child:

Yury Repin

child:

Tatyana Repina

ex-wife:

Vera Shevtsova

life partner:

Natalia Nordman

Friend:

Leo Tolstoy

Friend:

Vasily Surikov

References

• The Russian Vision: The Art of Ilya Repin
  2015
• Ilya Repin
  2011
• Ilya Repin: Painting, Graphic Arts
  1985
• 533 Color Paintings of Ilya Repin
  2012
• Ilya Repin: 247 Masterpieces
  2014
• Ilya Repin and the World of Russian Art
  1990